AFGHANISTAN’S first female pilot has been granted asylum in the US after being forced out of her home country by death threats.

Afghan air force captain Niloofar Rahmani, 27, signed up to become a pilot at age 18 under the US-led coalition and became a national celebrity after she graduated from training school in 2013.

However both she and her immediate family became targets of the Taliban and family members who threatened them with death and forced them into hiding.

In 2015, Captain Rahmani was brought to the US and received the State Department’s International Women of Courage Award. Following her successful asylum result, the pilot said she was “really happy and thankful” to those that made it happen.

“All I want now is to go back to my dream of flying,” she told the Wall Street Journal. “I can finally live my life in peace,” said Ms. Rahmani. “Now all my worries are about my family in Afghanistan.”

Niloofar Rahmani has been granted asylum in the US after suffering death threats for her job. Picture: Twitter.Source:Twitter

Niloofar Rahmani moved to the US in 2015. Picture: Facebook.Source:Supplied

NATIONAL TARGET

Captain Rahmani’s success catapulted her to international fame as a symbol of progress in the conservative country. But she was also targeted by insurgents and those unhappy with the attention she brought to the family.

By 2013 she was receiving threatening phone calls and letters at home. One signed by the Taliban warned her “if you carry on doing your job, you will be responsible for your destruction and that of your family.” She was also warned to “learn from Malala Yousafzai.”

Her brother was targeted in a hit and run and attempted shooting, while her sister was subject to a divorce and cut off from seeing her child, according to previous reports.

Her family was forced to move out of their home after some uncles and cousins broke in and Rahmani has previously said she would “never have put my family through this” if she knew how bad it would get.

Afghanistan remains dangerous amid a war that has been raging for more than 16 years. A recent report shows 14.5 per cent of the country’s districts are under insurgent control, while troops numbers are declining.

On Monday, ten journalists were killed in a double suicide bombing Kabul with a vigil held for them on World Press Freedom Day.

Security forces stand amid smoke at the site of a suicide attack after the second bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan on Monday. Picture: AP Photo/Massoud Hossaini.Source:AP